The Football Factory centres on Tom Johnson, a reasoned 'Chelsea hooligan' who represents a disaffected society operating by brutal rules. We are shown the realities of life - social degradation, unemployment, racism, casual violence, excessive drink and bad sex - and, perhaps more importantly, how they fall into a political context of surveillance, media manipulation and division. Graphic and disturbing, sometimes very funny, and deeply affecting throughout, The Football Factory is a vertiginous rush of adrenaline - the most authentic book yet on the so-called English Disease.

"The story centres around Tommy Johnson, a bored twenty something who lives for the weekend, casual sex, watered down lager, heavily cut drugs ... And occasionally kicking the f*ck out of someone." [box cover note].

Shortlisted for the Sunday Times Football Book of the Year 2022 'A forensic insight into how our football academies operate. Every angle covered by a splendid author' - Daniel Taylor, The Athletic With unparalleled behind-the-scenes access to academies at all levels of English football, The Dream Factory: Inside the Make-or-Break World of Football's Academies is a journey deep into the heart of youth football, revealing in gripping detail how home-grown Premier League stars such as Marcus Rashford and Trent Alexander-Arnold are created, and at what cost. The Dream Factory introduces a rich array of characters – players, coaches, directors – behind talent production lines at several Premier League clubs, including Manchester United, Liverpool and Manchester City, zooming in on the stories of Alexander-Arnold's unique development, how Rashford's sense of social responsibility was nurtured, and how Phil Foden has become a beacon to City's young hopefuls.

Following on from his bestselling study of violence, The Football Factory, John King considers Britain's other obsession - sex. Formed in the chemical mists of New Year's Eve, The Sex Division sees the once sacred act of procreation at its most material, as five men devise a system based on the sexual act. In this lager-soaked league, the most that women can offer a man is 4 points - unless, that is, she leaves her handbag unattended... From its base in the asset-stripped, emotionally castrated 90s, Headhunters shows the dreams of The Sex Division members breaking through the heavy media cloud of anorexic pin-ups and paedophile fashion. A missing brother, prophetic visions, a love affair, and tit-for-tat confrontation draw the characters out into the open - revealing the men behind the machismo, their need for mutual respect, and their recognition of the hidden or suppressed affinities.

Any fan of the Baltimore Colts of my era, any fan of my friend and teammate Johnny Unitas, or, for that matter, any fan of football in general should enjoy Wayne Stewart's book. It contains great stories, statistics, and information on all of the many great quarterbacks who came out of Western Pennsylvania and much more. Raymond Berry NFL Hall of Fame Wide Receiver (Baltimore Colts 1955-67) It's well known that the NFL has been dominated through the years by quarterbacks sown and grown in a relatively small area surrounding the city of Pittsburgh in Western Pennsylvania. In America¿s Cradle of Quarterbacks, author Wayne Stewart not only tells us who they are, he digs deep to explain the nature and nurture behind the rich harvest of signal callers (Montana, Unitas, Marino, Namath, Kelly, Blanda, etc.) who have risen from that fertile soil to claim Lombardi Trophies and dominate the gallery of busts in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Stewart has written a fascinating book that belongs on the shelves of football historians and everyday fans alike. Jeffrey J. Miller Author of Rockin' The Rockpile, Buffalo's Forgotten Champions, and Game Changers

"One of the most insightful books ever written about college football." - The New York Times "Easily among the best sports books of the new millennium." - Paul Finebaum, columnist and radio host In this unprecedented look at college football’s secret season, Bruce Feldman rips the cover off the game’s frenzied pursuit of raw talent, taking you deep inside the SEC war room of recruiting legend Ed Orgeron,the combustible Cajun who helped build national championship teams at the University of Miami and at USC. In a stunning, blow-by-blow account of the year leading up to National Signing Day 2007, the award-winning journalist shadows Orgeron and his Ole Miss assistants as they set about hunting high school students, pleading, plotting, and inventing ways to lure them to their sleepy Oxford campus. Packed with candid confessions and outrageous off-the-field action, Meat Market makes what happens on the field seem almost tame by comparison.

These are the crews who think nothing of using tear gas, meat hooks, home-made bombs, and worse to make their point—these gangs of organized hooligans for whom their team is their lifenbsp;can be foundnbsp;globally: innbsp;Brazil and Croatia, Argentina and Italy, these soccer fans are everywhere. Meet the fans prepared to go to the furthest extremes tonbsp;defend their team's honor. Actor Danny Dyer, star of thenbsp;hit filmThe Football Factory, took a film crew with him to meet all of these gangs, and this is the full story of what happened when he did. Join him on a journey around the hooligan world in 90 days, visiting ninenbsp;countries in 12 weeks to meet the nastiest, naughtiest football hooligans on the planet. Shot at, stoned, glassed, and tear gassed, they survived gunfire in Brazil, a riot in Poland, and the opportunity to stand shoulder to shoulder with the foreign teams as it all goes off. Full of spine-chilling encounters, extraordinary characters, and brutal clashes, this book shows that football hooliganism is alive and kicking—all over the world.

Three stories in one volume that work through the themes of football hooliganism, sex, drugs, work, national identity, family skeletons and unburied fantasies.

First published in 1997. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

After twenty years of living in Italy, Tim Parks, whom Joseph Brodsky has called "the best British author writing today," spent a full year following the fortunes--and misfortunes--of the Verona football--oops! soccer--club. Here is his rollicking report.